German-owned Lidl is planning to expand its 670-strong chain of supermarkets with up to 60 new stores a year, as part of a £1.5bn investment by 2019.

The budget supermarket chain is currently UK's fastest-growing supermarket, increasing its market share to more than 5%. The new plan will also the fastest Lidl has ever grown its UK estate since it launched here in 1994.

The group's new UK CEO Christian Härtnagel (pictured), who formerly ran Lidl's Irish division in County Cork for the last three years, said he is aggressively stepping up expansion with the plan to roll-out of “at least one shop a week”.

He said Lidl has already agreed sites to add between 50 to 60 shops a year for the next two years, compared to the 30 opened last year, and the investment will be at least £1.45 billion between now and 2019.